Stanislav I. Arishchenko

Nowadays there is a significant number of video games are represented on the market of videogame software products, text materials of which contain archaic lexis. The aim of this paper is to analyze and interrogate the sources of archaic lexis in videogames, as well as to establish the main ways of the translation in localizations in other languages. Typological and comparativehistorical methods, as well as contextual analysis, became the main ones for this study. The article contains examples of videogame software products that have the most frequent types of archaic lexis with a different basis, and also states videogame setting as one of the main sources of archaic lexis. As a rule, the setting of a videogame software product is a determining factor for the usage of certain types of lexis, including archaisms. The videogame setting, being a reflection of the ideas of the developers, carries information about a specific time period or a religion which determines the plot of the videogame. In addition to the setting, an important role is played by the style guide of the text materials, which contains instructions on the use of archaic lexical units that meet the requirements of the setting. The localization of archaic videogame lexis contains significant challenges even for experienced videogame localization industry workers. According to the results of this study, there are several ways to localize archaic lexis. Among these methods, direct borrowing of a lexical unit, as well as transliteration and transcription, stand out. The choice of an appropriate method of localization of archaic lexical units directly depends on the source of such vocabulary, which, in turn, becomes the religious and historical-traditional component of the videogame setting. As a rule, archaic lexis that has a religious basis underneath, the most common localization method is direct borrowing from sacred texts. At the same time, vocabulary typical of a certain era or the traditional way of any geographical region is most often transliterated or transcribed when translated into other target languages.

The problem of inconsistency of the scenario and other soft - and hardware aspects of various digital entertainment products is becoming more and more popular among the scholars from various scientific areas. The main aim of this paper is analyzing the localization issues of mass-media products as well as videogame localization. The quality of an in-game experience of a localized videogame depends on a variety of factors and the most significant of them are the so-called gameplay issues. Under the term “gameplay issues” gamers and researchers often understand the features of videogame development. Facing these features could trigger different emotional reactions among the players. As a material for this paper several in-game textual materials have been chosen, viz.: Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles, Spider-Man and GTA: San Andreas. As the research has shown, the most usable and suitable technique for neutralizing the negative influence to the gamers caused by gameplay issues is the correction of the videogame scenario. Thus developers and localization specialists can minimize all negative influence in a fast and cheap way. However, scenario correction is not the only technique used during the development and localization processes of a videogame’s lifecycle. Here could also be mentioned another way to avoid negative emotional reactions: intersemiotical transferring. By using the toolkit of 3D visualization software a wide variety of gameplay issues could be neutralized. This technique shows itself at its best when it comes to censorship issues. In conclusion, several ways of neutralizing the negative effect of the gameplay issues have been discovered and formulated. The materials and examples mentioned in this paper could be applied in the industrial practice of the digital media localization specialists as well as used by beginners in the field of localization. Moreover, this paper could be of help to students looking for scientific information about the highly specialized translation practices.